Reducing environmental effects and enhancing design capability of architectural structures by using waste polypropylene

This thesis addresses the energy saving potential and environmental benefits of recycled polypropylene (PP) usage as a construction material. PP polymer is a versatile material that can be used as films or fibres which makes it one of the most four selling and consumed plastics. PP usage accounts for 75% of the worldwide usage of plastics in the world, this plastic material accumulates day by day in landfill damaging the ecosystem and environment enormously for the last decades. The objective of this study is to reduce waste, find a greater resource productivity, and help decrease the environmental impacts of construction materials manufacturing, and consump-tion (convert Waste to Wealth). In this study, two samples having the same volume (1m³) of self-compacting concrete (SCC); (one consists of PP fibre while the other one doesn't) have been compared in accordance with their Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) by using GaBi software. The emission to air and emission to fresh water for SCC reinforced concrete and PP reinforced concrete are calculated to be 4.53x105, 5.66x106; and 2.51x105, 2.78x105 respectively for 100 years of life cycle. The results showed that, for a 100 years of life cycle, the emissions to air and fresh water should be decreased by 44.59% and 91.99% respectively. Undoubtedly, the biggest benefit was mitigating the area occupied by plastic waste in landfill in bulky quantities, and also preventing lead disposal happening due to disposal of the PP based materials. Keywords: Polypropylene (PP), Recycling, Enhancing design capability, GaBi, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).